The Bible as ‘hate literature’
By Albert James Dager
With virtually no notice taken in the U.S. media, Canada's House of Commons recently passed Bill C-250 that would add sexual orientation as a protected category in Canada's genocide and hate-crimes legislation. Violation of the hate-crimes legislation carries a penalty of up to five years in prison.
The bill, passed by a vote of 1410110, had the support of every provincial and territorial attorney-general in Canada. The bill now goes to the Senate, which usually rubber stamps the House's legislation.
Opponents fear that if the bill becomes law, the Bible will be deemed "hate literature" under the criminal code in certain instances.
Such an instance has already occurred in a Canadian provincial court. The Court of Queen's Bench in Saskatchewan on December 11 upheld a 2001 ruling by the province's human rights tribunal that fined a man for submitting a newspaper ad that included citations of four Bible verses that address homosexuality.
Under Saskatchewan's Human Rights Code, Hugh Owens of Regina, Saskatchewan, was found guilty along with the newspaper, the Saskootan StarPhoenix, of inciting hatred. He was forced to pay damages of 1,500 Canadian dollars to each of the three homosexual men who filed the complaint. The ad consisted of four Bible passages, Romans 1, Leviticus 18:22, Leviticus 20:13 and 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 on the left side. An equal sign was placed between the verse references and a drawing on the right side of two males holding hands overlaid with the universal nullification symbol--a red circle with a diagonal bar. Owens, an evangelical Christian, said his ad was " Christian response" to Homosexual Pride Week.
Canada's human rights code allows for expression of honestly held beliefs, but the commission ruled that the code can place "reasonable restriction" on Owen's religious expression because his ad exposed homosexuals "to hatred, ridicule, and their dignity was affronted on the basis of their sexual orientation."
In another case, the Ontario Human Rights Commission in 2002 penalized a printer, Scott Brockie, $5,000 for refusing to print letterhead for a homosexual advocacy group even though Brockie argued that his Christian beliefs compelled him to reject the job.
In 1998, Mark Harding, an Ontario man, was convicted of hate crimes for distributing pamphlets about Islam outside a high school. Janet Epp Buckingham, legal counsel for the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada, says cases like this are worrisome precedents that an expanded late law could build upon.
According to Art Moore, columnist for WorldNet Daily, Harding was sentenced to two years probation and 430 hours of community service under Mohammad Ashraf, general secretary of the Islamic Society of North America in Mississauga, Ont.
Harding says Ashraf told him that instead of licking stamps and stuffing envelopes, "it would be better if you learned about Islam."
The cleric made it clear that during the sessions nothing negative could be said about Islam or its prophet, Muhammad.
"He said he was my supervisor, and if I didn't follow what he said, he would send me back to jail," said Harding. Art Moore offers details on Harding's conviction:
Harding was convicted in 1998 on federal hate-crimes charges stemming from a June 1997 incident in which he distributed pamphlets outside a public high school, Weston Collegiate Institute in Toronto. Harding--who said that until that point he spent most of his time evangelizing Muslims--was protesting the school's policy of setting aside a room for Muslim students to pray during school hours.
In one of his pamphlets, Harding listed atrocities committed by Muslims in foreign lands to back his assertion that Canadians should be wary of local Muslims...
"The point I was trying to make is you shouldn't have a violent religion like Islam allowed in the school when Christianity or Hinduism or Buddhism is not allowed," he told WND.
Harding, and evangelical Protestant, insists he has love rather than hatred towards Muslims and wants to see them go to heaven...
Understanding Islam
During his 1998 session with the Ashraf, Harding was told to read a book called Towards Understanding Islam, by Sayyid Abul A'la Maududi.
On page 12 of the book, Harding noted, it gives a description of a "kafir," or infidel, a person who does not follow Islam.
"Such a man... will spread confusion and disorder on the earth," the book says. "He will without the least compunction, shed blood, violate other men's rights, be cruel to them, and create disorder and destruction in the world. His perverted thoughts and ambitions, his blurred vision and disturbed scale of values, and his evil-spelling activities would make life bitter for him and for all around him."
"It was obvious that he intended to make sure I understood that I was a kafir," Harding said of Ashraf...
Harding asserted at the time that he meant to criticize only Islamic terrorists, not all Muslims. But he added that faithful Muslims will always engage in jihad, or holy war, against non-Muslims because it is required by Islamic teachings.
Many Muslim scholars in North America argue that jihad essentially means "struggle" and in not necessarily violent.
But Harding said that after his case became public, he no longer felt safe, due to threats from Muslims. When he entered court for the first time for his trial, he required police protection as a large crowd of Muslims gathered, with some chanting, "Infidels, you will burn in hell."
Harding said he received many death threats among more than 3,000 hate-filled calls that came to his answering service in 1997. Similar calls were received by police and the Ontario attorney general, he said.
"I had a call from someone who said they were from (Louis) Farrakhan's (Nation of Islam) group, and they were going to break my legs," he said. "Another caller said he would rip out my testicles."
The Islamic Society of North America in Canada, where Harding is required to fulfill his community service, describes itself as a "broad-based unity of Muslims and Islamic organizations committed to the mission and movement of Islam: nurturing a way of life in the light of the guidance from the Quran and Sunnah for establishing a vibrant presence of Muslims in Canada."
The organization shares facilities with the Canadian Council on Islamic Relations, an affiliate of the controversial Council on Islamic-American Relations, or CAIR, in Washington, D.C.
CAIR spokesman Ibrahim Hooper indicated in a 1993 interview with the Minneapolis Star Tribune that he wants to see the United States become a Muslim country.
"I wouldn't want to create the impression that I wouldn't like the government of the United States to be Islamic sometime in the future," Hooper told the Star Tribune. "But I'm not going to do anything violent to promote that. I'm going to do it through education."
Hate Crimes
Judge Sidney B. Linden's 1998 ruling against Harding was based on Canada's genocide and hate-crimes law. The judge determined he was guilty of "false allegations about the adherents of Islam calculated to arouse fear and hatred among them in all non-Muslim people."
The law bars a public statement that "willfully promotes hatred" against groups "distinguished by color, race, religion or ethnic origin." The code had an article that excuses statements expressed in "good faith," including religious expression. But the trial judge found that Harding had either "tried to incite hatred or was willfully blind to it," according to Harding's lawyer Jasmine Akbarilli.
Canadian Christian groups are fighting a bill reinstated this month by a homosexual parliament member that would add "sexual orientation" as a protected category in the hate-crimes statutes. Known previously as bill C-415, it is now registered as C-250.
Evangelicals have supported Harding in principle, though many have signaled their opposition to his aggressive tactics or have expressed reservations.
Harding said he'd received support from Christians who immigrated to Canada from Muslim countries, where minority religions experience discrimination and persecution.
"I have a lot of Pakistani and Egyptian friends helping me through this because they understand what Islam is all about," he said. "When they heard about me in the news, they called to offer their support."
Evidently it is a hate-crime to address the historical reality of Islam's violent nature in other countries and warn people about them. But threats against Harding's life and physical well-being have gone unchecked. It is clear that hateful statements and threats against Christians is not a violation of Canada's genocide and hate-crime legislation.
"Hate crimes" no longer refer only to acts of violence against protected classes of humanity, but merely saying something that someone among a protected class finds offensive can incur the wrath of government. The guarantee of "free speech" does not apply to the Gospel if it is quoted to warn people caught in sin to repent.
In today's climate of globalism, every nation looks to other nations to determine how to form their own legislation. Our Supreme Court looks to Canada's rulings on civil rights to help it determine its own course of action. It's not that Canada's laws are binding upon the United States, but that the United States follows Canada's leading.
Evidence of this is the fact that homosexual marriages are not legal in Canada. This has spurred homosexual activities in this country to force our courts to deal with the issue of homosexual marriages here. Massachusetts has followed Canada's lead by making homosexual marriages legal in that state. And while most states currently bar homosexuals from marrying, it is only a matter of time before the domino effect creates such a ground-swell of acceptance among our mostly left-wing fascist legislators that the homosexuals will have their way.
Recent polls suggest that more than one-third of Americans are amenable toward homosexual marriage. We're probably no more than one generation away from a majority of citizens feeling that way.
Worse, God's Word (or portions of it) is on the verge of being declared hate literature in Canada. To quote passages that incur God's judgment upon homosexuality has already , as we've seen, resulted in prosecution of Christians attempting to speak their own consciences.
Some Jewish commentators call the "New Testament" "anti-Semitic" in reaction to the Gospels' description of unbelieving Jews in Jesus' day. How long before we are forbidden to call sin what it is, or to be witnesses of the Gospel to the people of other religions in this country? If Canada is already persecuting believers, the United States cannot be far behind.
It would be naïve to say, "it can't happen here." Too many things that "can't happen here" have happened here. I'm sorry to say I don't believe the vast majority of Christians in either country is prepared for the coming persecution. Certainly the churches aren't preparing them.
If jail and stiff penalties prove insufficient to stem the zeal of true believers in Jesus desirous of witnessing to others that He is the only way to God, can physical torture or death be far behind?
It may not be too long before we will better understand Paul's plight in prison and the plight of the countless martyrs who have died, and are dying, for the faith.
Are we ready?
Media Spotlight Vol. 27, NO.1, March 2004
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